


the beginning of comprehension

by darkmillennium



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Adam Milligan in Lucifer's Cage, Arguing, Developing Relationship, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, I guess???, Lucifer's Cage (Supernatural), M/M, Michael Possessing Adam Milligan, Michael in Lucifer's Cage (Supernatural), Moral Lessons, Prompt Fic, he's there for like...a sentence, snapshots of michael and adam growing alongside each other in the cage basically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:01:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24703450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkmillennium/pseuds/darkmillennium
Summary: “Wait, wait, wait, so...serial killers are allowed in Heaven? Murderers? Is that what you’re telling me?”Michael frowns, like Adam’s just asked the dumbest question in the history of questions, and then replies, “Yes, so long as they are faithful.”—Based on the tumblr prompt: “Forgiveness needs to be earned.” + midam?
Relationships: Michael & Adam Milligan, Michael/Adam Milligan
Comments: 5
Kudos: 109





	the beginning of comprehension

**Author's Note:**

> not much to say about this one! i wasn't exactly sure what to do for the prompt at first, but then i just started writing and decided that this was gonna be a cagefic! i hadn't actually done one of them yet, shockingly. 
> 
> also: michael's scream later in the story comes from the line where a demon tells crowley that a noise like a "wounded animal" came out of the cage, warning them about the darkness.

“Wait, wait, wait, so...serial killers are allowed in Heaven? Murderers? Is that what you’re telling me?”

Adam and Michael haven’t been talking long—they’ve been united by their shared grief in the face of complete confinement, but, other than that, there’s _worlds_ of differences between them. Including their moral stances, apparently, and Adam’s just not digging it. His mother raised him better than that. 

Michael frowns, like Adam’s just asked the dumbest question in the history of questions, and then replies, “Yes, so long as they are faithful.” 

“What kind of sense does _that_ make?” Adam says, incredulously, and he directs a scowl at Michael when the archangel motions for him to go on. He doesn’t need Mr. Royalty’s _permission_ to speak, _thanks._ “I mean, they’re _killers_. They’ve taken innocent lives. How is that fair? Didn’t God have a commandment that said _thou shall not kill_ or something?”

“‘Thou _shalt_ not kill,’” Michael corrects him breezily, as if on instinct. “And human lives are small—there are many of them. A few taken here and there do not make a difference, especially concerning matters of faith.”

And that—that just makes Adam feel _sick_. And he’s got no qualms about saying so, either. 

“Those _few who were taken_ had _families,_ asshole. Or—or maybe they didn’t, but maybe they had _friends_ , or maybe they had people who they talked with every day at their job who _liked_ them.” Adam is brutally reminded of his mother, then, of being eaten alive by ghouls, and he forces the thought out of his mind because he is _not_ going to show that kind of weakness in front of some stupid archangel who thinks Adam is akin to the dirt on his metaphorical shoes.

“How would _you_ feel if you heard that someone in your family died? There are more archangels, right?” He distantly remembers hearing Lucifer and Michael, during one of their many scream-fests, argue over two people named “Gabriel” and “Raphael,” so he thinks he can’t be _that_ far off. 

Adam doesn’t like to think of himself as particularly mean, but he does feel a sort of vindictive pleasure in seeing Michael still, just for a moment. Good. Serves him right for constantly shitting on humanity.

Michael seems to regain his composure, after a moment, though his words are spoken with some degree of hesitancy. “If...my brothers were to die, then it would be for a reason. It would be God’s will—His punishment—for whatever they had done wrong.”

Adam kind of wants to scream something like _are you even hearing yourself,_ but the fight deflates out of him. He’s gotten into the whole topic of God with Michael before, and that never ends well—people just can’t see what they don’t want to see. Willful ignorance is a beast and a half.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he says, instead, leaning back against the expanse of blackness that makes up the mental space they’re sitting in. There’s something behind him supporting his weight, but there’s also nothing there—Adam learned a while back not to question it. It just _is._

Michael doesn’t say anything. Adam didn’t expect him to. As much as they argue, they’ve both pretty much expected differing opinions from each other by now on nearly every subject, and they’ve also figured out when the other gets pushed enough where they just won’t speak. It’s something that they try to avoid, since they’re all they’ve got down here and making each other constantly angry just leads to solitary confinement. He thinks that Michael’s about reached his emotional capacity for the day (week? Month? Year? Adam’s got no clue, at this point), so he sighs and pointedly looks the other way, signifying the end of the conversation. 

* * *

It’s hundreds of years and an eternity later, when they’ve come to more of an understanding about each other and their respective species, when Michael is kinder towards him, more mellowed, and Adam can no longer find it in him to blame him for their predicament—they were both victims, in his opinion—when the Cage gives a mighty shudder, rattling and bending like it never has before, and all Adam can do is reach out for Michael and cling on for dear life. 

And then Michael and Lucifer start _freaking_ , to the point where Michael _screams_ like he never has before and Adam is paralyzed, terrified, because _nothing_ has ever made Michael make a noise like that, like a wounded animal, and Adam can dimly register the fact that Lucifer is staring at Michael like he’s lost his mind before turning back to the bars of the Cage, a panicked feeling emanating from the grace of his true form. 

Adam’s got no clue what the actual _fuck_ is happening.

 _Michael,_ he tries, from inside their mindscape, _Michael, dude, what’s going on?_

It takes some prodding—a _lot_ of prodding—but he finally convinces Michael to join him within their mindscape, and his first thought is that Michael looks _awful._ Like, the _genuinely terrified_ kind of awful.

“Michael?” he tries, again, and he does his best to keep his voice from getting too panicked—Michael’s clearly in no state to be any voice of reason, and Adam _needs_ answers.

“I—” the archangel starts, before swallowing, and the motion is so _human_ that Adam is taken entirely off-guard. “The—The Darkness. She’s free. The Cage has been weakened, and I can feel the state of the world—Adam, Heaven’s forces have been _decimated._ Raphael’s _dead._ What could’ve—did she…?” he’s started talking more to himself, at this point, and Adam decides to take a chance and grab Michael by the shoulder, just to get him grounded long enough to _explain._

Michael’s reaction is instant—his head snaps up, searching Adam’s face, and Adam’s learned to read him well enough by now to understand that Michael’s not going to shove him off or demand that he gets off of him, which is a step forward, in Adam’s opinion. 

“Listen, halo,” the nickname is new on his tongue, but Michael quitting his freak-out to complain about it would be a welcome sight, “take it easy. Okay? Just—who’s the Darkness? Explain that first.”

The archangel seems to take a moment, steeling himself, and Adam is struck by how rare it is to see Michael like this—how incredible it is that Michael’s letting him see this in the first place. It’s fine. Adam’s got no one to tell and no room to judge. Then, he nods, and begins to launch into an explanation. 

Apparently, God’s got a sister. Who knew?

Later, though, when they’re sat down next to each other, Michael brings up something that Adam had all but forgotten about.

“You once criticized the allowance of those who had taken innocent lives into Heaven,” Michael remarks, brows drawn together in thought.

“Yeah,” Adam says, “what about it?”

“And I said that if my brothers were to die...it would be for a _reason._ But the devastation of Heaven’s forces...what could possibly be the reason for that? Neither they nor Raphael have ever done anything outside of God’s plan. How am I meant to _forgive_ that? I understand that my Father’s will is absolute—” _Oh, let’s not start that again,_ Adam thinks, privately, “—but they all are— _were_ —my family. How can…?” Michael turns to him, then, and Adam is suddenly hit by the gravity of what’s _happening_ , here. Michael is turning to _him_ for advice. Michael, the same archangel that was sneering at both him and the rest of humanity not three hundred years prior.

And what can Adam do but speak what he thinks is right?

“You aren’t. Meant to forgive anyone, I mean. Not if you don’t want to. Forgiveness needs to be earned; not freely given. Raphael was your brother, right? Your family. And so were the rest of them. Even if you believe in your dad’s plan, or whatever, that doesn’t excuse the fact that all of them are _dead,_ now. When He could’ve stopped it.” He’s not sure if he’s rambling, at this point, or if he’s actually making any sense. Either way, Michael’s staring at him with something he’s never seen from him before—like he’s having a revelation, or something. 

Adam isn’t too sure how to feel about it.

Michael is silent for a long time, afterwards. Adam can practically hear the gears _whirring_ on his side of their mental link. But, see, the thing about the Cage is that silence is like a poison—it infects you, down to your very core, until you feel you might be driven mad if it continues for a moment longer. 

So Adam reaches out, much like he did earlier, and lays his hand on top of Michael’s in an act of support, something to let him know that he's not alone. Michael jolts, turning to stare down at Adam’s hand, but he doesn’t pull away, and Adam’s going to count that as a win. 

It’s not like they get many, down here. 

**Author's Note:**

> comments are much appreciated!!!!! :) thank you for reading!
> 
> my tumblr is @adammilligan!


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